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OPINION

PUC fire-risk maps could have saved lives

Tom Elias, Columnist
Published 11:28 a.m. PT March 27, 2018

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2007 file photo, three firefighters brace themselves from explosive heat coming from a burning home in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego, set off by a wildfire. The California Public Utilities Commissions has voted to have San Diego utility shareholders, not ratepayers, pay $379 million in costs from three 2007 deadly blazes ignited by power lines. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, file) ORG XMIT: PDX407(Photo: Lenny Ignelzi, AP)

It was a clear-cut case of too little, too late when the California Public Utilities Commission the other day issued its first-ever map showing where the likelihood of utility-sparked wildfires is highest.

This long-awaited map and its accompanying regulations made their appearance more than 10 years after it could have and should have been drawn. The blueprint shows not only areas of greatest risk for major blazes, but also rates various locales on their danger levels, with tougher inspections and tree-trimming requirements needed in areas of greatest menace.

It’s all because big, privately owned utilities must serve all areas, not merely those that are most convenient. That’s part of the deal giving them power-service monopolies over vast regions. With their agreement to serve fire-risk zones comes the responsibility to do it safely.

The findings are not yet in on whether Pacific Gas & Electric Co. or Southern California Edison were in any way culpable for the hugely destructive Wine Country fires of last fall or the Thomas Fire that ravaged Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in December.

Both companies are now defendants in multiple lawsuits. Some allege that sparks from electric wires caused at least one big inferno and others claim a utility work crew spurred another.

If the areas where those alleged incidents supposedly occurred had been mapped earlier, with tougher regulations applied to them, it's possible that lives, homes, crops and businesses might have been spared.

Creation of the map was first ordered by the PUC shortly after the 2007 Witch Fire destroyed at least 1,500 homes and killed 17 people in San Diego County. Investigators placed the blame for that fire on arcing power lines of the San Diego Gas & Electric Co., which has failed so far in its efforts to force consumers to pay more than $300 million in costs not covered by insurance.

One newspaper reported last fall that utilities repeatedly asked to slow down the mapping, saying some proposed regulations would “add unnecessary costs to construction and maintenance projects in rural areas.”

The problem with those objections, apparently heeded by the PUC as it extended the mapping deadline repeatedly, is that when strong winds blow, fires in rural areas can spread to more heavily populated places, as residents of Ventura, Montecito, Santa Rosa and Calistoga learned.

Like many government agencies, the PUC moaned that it had insufficient staff, in this case to inspect all utility lines. But 10 years was likely enough time for just one inspector to check every power line in high-risk areas of California.

“The sad part,” Democratic state Sen. Jerry Hill opined after the Wine Country fires, “is the maps didn’t arrive before these fires. ... It’s an outrageous example of negligence by a regulatory agency.”

The good news is that, pressured by the results of its relaxed approach to the mapping project, the PUC has adopted new regulations. This won’t help anyone victimized by recent fires and mudslides, but it should prevent some future damage from arcing and sparking power lines.

Utilities, led by SDG&E in last fall’s Lilac Fire near Fallbrook, also show more readiness to cut off power in potentially affected areas during early stages of fires in hopes of containing damage. That worked in the Lilac blaze, which was knocked down much more quickly than others that burned simultaneously.

One problem: The new map-related rules take effect only gradually, applying after Sept. 1 to areas where fire peril is highest and not until June 30 of next year in other places. Utility companies will have to file annual reports on their fire-prevention efforts in high-risk areas, but the first isn’t due until Oct. 1.

These are positive developments, and to the PUC’s shame, there appears to be no good reason why they did not happen much earlier.